The Second City's SHE THE PEOPLE is Back by Popular Demand

By: Feb. 11, 2020
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The Second City's SHE THE PEOPLE is Back by Popular Demand

The Second City's knockout show She the People is back at it again in 2020! The all-female, all-funny show directed by Carly Heffernan welcomes back returning ensemble members Carisa Barreca, Alex Bellisle, Katie Caussin, Sayjal Joshi, and Emma Pope with new cast member Lachrisa Grandberry joining. Other creative team members include Mary Mahoney (Music Director/Original Music/Sound Designer) and Abby Beggs (Lighting Designer/Stage Manager).

She the People is entirely created, designed, and performed by the fearlessly funny women of The Second City and roasts and toasts all the things we love and hate about being a woman in 2020. Now back for its third year, She the People first hit The Second City in September 2017. After a smash run in UP Comedy Club, the show brought its tour-de-female-force to Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. for two runs, the latter earning the show a Helen Hayes Award nomination in 2019. The show recently won the Chicago Reader's "Best of Chicago" award for "Best New Play." She the People will be heading to Boston this month to begin a run at the Calderwood Pavilion at Huntington Theatre Company.

She the People plays in The Second City's UP Comedy Club (230 West North Avenue). Tickets start at $26.00 and are available by phone at 312-337-3992 or online at www.secondcity.com. The show schedule is as follows:

Thursdays @ 8:00pm

Fridays @ 8:00pm

Saturdays @ 8:00pm

Sundays @ 7:00pm

About the Artists

CARISA BARRECA (Ensemble/Assistant Director/Writer/Choreographer) is so excited to be back with She The People again. She is an alumna of The Second City's e.t.c stage, where she wrote and performed in three critically acclaimed revues. She had the honor of performing at Lyric Opera with Patrick Stewart and Renée Fleming in The Second City's Guide to the Opera, at the Kennedy Center and at Goodman Theatre with Twist Your Dickens, and she wrote and performed in Hubbard Street Chicago and The Second City's collaboration The Art Of Falling. Currently, she can be seen on FOX's Empire as "Lizzie" and in PopTVs Hot Date as "Sue." Special Thanks to Carly for everything and love to this cast, Kevin, and her dear Dr. Watson. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter: @Cinderisa

ALEX BELLISLE (Ensemble) is thrilled to be part of the cast of She the People. Alex is a Chicago-based actress and comedian and has a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Houston. She is also one-half of the two-person sketch duo "Girlish." Alex can be seen on Chicago P.D. (NBC) and in the short First Holiday. Alex would like to thank the cast, Jack, and her personal graphic designer and wife, also named Alex (you're welcome). Follow her @alexbellisle.

KATIE CAUSSIN (Ensemble) is originally from Springfield, VA, and received her degree in Theater from Radford University. She has been an actor in Chicago for over 20 years, many of them with The Second City as part of their Touring Company and Theatricals shows. Most recently, she returned from a month-long run of She the People at Woolly Mammoth Theater in Washington, D.C. Previously, she appeared as "Mrs. Cratchit" in Twist Your Dickens at Goodman Theatre and toured around the US in The Realish Housewives of (Your City Here). She has also performed with Second City for the USO in the Balkans and at both iO and Annoyance Theatre in Chicago. On camera, Katie has appeared in an episode of Chicago Justice on NBC and has been featured on The Onion Network's Special Report web series.

LACHRISA GRANDBERRY (Ensemble) is happy to join the cast of She the People as she makes her Second City debut! Other theatre credits include work with Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Northern Sky Theatre, First Stage, Skylight Music Theatre, Forward Theatre, Theatre LILA, The Shakespeare Project of Chicago, Children's Theatre of Madison, and Black Arts MKE, amongst others. In addition to her stage work, Lachrisa is a writer, teaching artist, and acting coach. She is beyond grateful for her community of family and friends and Paonessa Talent Agency for their continued love and support. "There is no greater power on this earth than story" - may it transform your heart and mind.

SAYJAL JOSHI (Ensemble) was born in a tobacco field in Greensboro, NC, where she co-founded Greensboro's first and only improv comedy club, The Idiot Box. Credits include FOX's Empire, the Kennedy Center, Goodman Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Zanies, Laugh Factory, The Second City e.t.c., The Second City Touring Company, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Annoyance Theatre, The Improvised Shakespeare Company, ComedySportz, Laugh Out Loud Theater, and critically acclaimed Asian-American sketch ensemble, "Stir-Friday Night!" She also has two cats and an amazing husband named Steve. AMA: @SayjalJoshi

EMMA POPE (Ensemble) is delighted to be back with the killer cast of She the People. She was born in Washington D.C., and has been living in Chicago since 2011. An alum of The Second City Touring Company and Mainstage, you can find her performing with her favorite improv team "Bag of Bones" Monday nights at iO. Emma is represented by Big Mouth Talent. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @emmerpope, or check out her website www.emmapope.com.

CARLY HEFFERNAN (Director) is an award-winning alumna of The Second City Toronto, where she wrote and performed in four Mainstage revues. Select directing credits: Norwegian Cruise Lines, The Second City Touring Company, critically acclaimed Second City Toronto Mainstage hits Come What Mayhem! and The Best Is Yet to Come Undone, as well as the Chicago premiere of She the People at The Second City and the show's Washington, D.C., debut at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. She recently head wrote and show ran season 2 of,Second Jen, which was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Comedy Series. Twitter: @carlyheffernan and Instagram: @carly.heffernan

ABBY BEGGS (Lighting Designer/Stage Manager) is excited to be working with The Second City on She the People. Previously, she's worked with Second City as a designer on She the People and Gaslight District and as a stage manager on various productions. When she's not at Second City, Abby works around town as a production manager and designer. For a full list of her credits, visit her website, www.abbybeggs.com

MARY MAHONEY (Music Director/Original Music/Sound Designer) has worked as a music director for sketch and improv comedy all over the continent while touring with Second City Theatricals aboard the Norwegian Dawn and as an understudy for The Second City Touring Company. She composed the score to The Garbage Man's Ball, which enjoyed a healthy run in the Chris Farley Cabaret and has also served as music director for productions by The Second City Directing Program, Comedy Sportz, Storytown, iO, Annoyance Theatre, Child's Play Touring Theatre, and the UP Comedy Club. A former music faculty member of Western Washington University, she is now a proud faculty member of The Second City Training Center. She would like to thank her friends and family, as well as the incredibly talented artists she gets to meet and work with daily.


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